A Chase Down The Path Of Danger
by The Dark Knight's Revenge
Summary: Jared's mom adopts a new sibling and Jared hates her. But later, he learns to accept her, maybe even fall for her? This is Spiderwick Chronicles from Jared's POV, Jared/Cassandra
1. Chapter 1

"Jared, this is your new sister, Cassandra Marie"

those were the few words that pushed me over the edge.

First, mom brought me, Mallory and Simon to this awful house where everything went missing and nothing worked right, then she decides to adopt another kid right into the mix.

Just this morning, a pipe burst, taking us three hours and many soakings to get fixed, then when it was finally done, mom fixed us cold spaghetti from the stash in the pantry, finding a rat's nest next to the shelves of honey. Did I mention it still had the dead rat in it? we fixed that, finished our even colder lunches, thinking it was over, and then mom looks at the clock, realizing that our new sister was due to arrive in a half an hour and the house, including us, was a mess.

It got worse from there. We had to madly clean the house and ourselves, getting done in the nick of time, as mom said.

I hid upstairs when she arrived, not wanting to be a part of this.

I could hear mom's voice through the walls in my bedroom, seeing as they weren't very thick.

I would be able to hear everything.

Mom welcomed them, offered her something to eat, sent the adoption agent on his way, then proceeded to make dinner for her.

"Hi Cassandra, I'm Mallory,"

"and I'm Simon" of ocurse, my other siblibngs would pester her until she died.

"We have another brother, but he's upstairs sulking" Mallory continued.

"Mallory" mom scolded.

"Jared is just tired"

I made gagging imitations.

After an hour, Simon came to try and lure me down to dinner.

He is my twin, but we really don't see eye to eye.

"Jared, aren't you hungry?" I shook my head and looked back down to my book.

"Don't you want to meet Cassandra?" I shook my head.

"Okay then" he said, shutting the door behind him.

After about a half and hour, I finished my book and decided I had better get this over with.

In the kitchen, mom was washing dishes, Mallory and Simon were working on some schoolwork and Cassandra was still eating.

I went over and took a bite of the casserole mom had made, purposefully ignoring everyone.

My mom cleared her throat.

"Jared"

I sighed and looked over at the new girl.

She was pretty I had to give her that, she had very long brown hair that went down to the middle of her back and curled at the ends and large brown eyes that fit her straight nose perfectly.

Great, it was going to be another Mallory.

I started to walk out of the room, making sure not to look at Cassandra on my way out.

"Jared, don't you think you should talk to your new sister a little" mom tried. I knew she was fed up with me, but I was sick of being perfect and controlled.

"No, why would I want to talk to her? She's not my real sister, and she's ugly. No wonder your family didn't want you"

I regretted it as soon as I said it, Cassandra's face fell, and she crumpled her napkin in her lap, looking as if she was going to cry.

As for the rest of my family, they just stared at me in shock.

That's when I took my cue to leave, running upstairs, slamming the door to my room shut, and locking it after me.

Now I felt like a right idiot.

I could here someone else running up the stairs and go into the room next to mine, where I could hear quiet sobs, that would be Cassandra.

now I felt like an even bigger jerk. After a while, mom came up and tried to talk to me, but I wouldn't unlock the door.

I didn't want to talk to anyone, I felt like too much of and idiot.

The next morning, after a painful and awkward breakfast, I went exploring. I found many new things, none of which useful or working.

I decided to go into the library, but I discovered it was already taken. Cassandra was in there, reading a book.

"What are you reading?" I asked, coming to look over her shoulder.

"This is about fairies" she replied, a small smile on her face.

"Figures" I said.

"Only someone as stupid as you would read that stupid of a book" I regretted that too when I said it, Cassandra started crying again.

She slammed the book and ran out. That of course, got everyone else involved.

"What did you do?" Mallory asked, advancing on me.

"Nothing" I replied, brushing past her.

Later, Simon and I were doing some school work, Cassandra reading her stupid fairy book. we were all getting alng fine and bahaving nicely when Mallory decided to come blazing through.

"Give it back! She said.

That had to mean that she thought I stole something of hers.

"I have to know what I actually stole before I can give it back" I replied.

She whacked me on the back of the head with the math book Simon and I were working on.

"My fencing medal!" she replied angrily.

I didn't steal that, I had no clue she even had one.

"You have a fencing medal?"

she whacked me again.

"Yes, dummy"

"cool, can I see it?" I said, turning round in my chair to look at it better.

"well, you have it, so get a look at it and then give it back, and I'm not going to acknowledge your presence until you give it back, and that includes no dinner, since I'm cooking tonight"

I put my head in my arms and groaned.

"I don't have it" Mallory grinned in triumph.

"Too bad"

Simon took the opportunity to say something witty.

"You know, you'd have to actually acknowledge his presence to accept the medal from him"

Mallory gave him one of her famous glares.

"Well done Spock, you're the pride of the federation"

I hid a smile, Cassandra doing the same. We were a family of antagonists, and we knew hoe to push each others buttons.

"Too bad Jared, you get no dinner until you give it back" I mocked her giving me the death glare and Mallory turned purple an whacked me across the face with the math book, probably contemplating running me through with it, but she just threw it on the table and walked out, her face the same color as a fresh beet.

That night, Mallory was merciless; she made me sit at the table while everyone else ate.

After a while I just lay back in my chair and groaned. I had skipped lunch too, so I was extra hungry.

Then Cassandra pushed her barely touched plate to me.

"Eat it" she said. Mallory looked up in surprise.

"You hardly touched that, and he's grounded!"

Cassandra shrugged, and then pushed it closer.

I started devouring it.

"Thanks"I said, and for the first time, I really looked at her, realizing she was actually very pretty.

We all just sat around the table after the dishes were done, none of us having anything better to do.

Then, we heard a skittering, scratching noise coming from the far wall.

As we watched, it went across the room, and stopped at a clear stretch of wall next to the fireplace.

"m-maybe it's a red squirrel" Simon ventured to guess.

Mallory slowly got the broom as the scratching got louder.

Then she stabbed the wall, meaning to frighten the creature off, but punching a hole in the plaster, and then a whole section of the wall fell down.

"Nice going Mal" I said. She didn't even hear me; she was looking at what was in the hole in the plaster.

There seemed to be a box of sorts, attached to some pulleys, but inside the box was a nest of some type.

There was a doll's head, some empty honey bottles, a set of keys, and finally, Mallory's fencing medal.

"Busted" she said, plucking it from the mess then showing it to me.

I had never seen it before in my life.

"Oh yeah, you caught me, I hid it, then plastered the wall over, how did you know?"

she glared at me.

"It's always you" then she left, Simon following her.

"You clean it up" she called over her shoulder.

"Hey! you knocked the wall down!" I yelled back.

there was no reply. I bent down to the mess, angry tears stinging my eyes. It wasn't fair.

When everything went wrong it was my fault, always my fault. I picked up the trash that had spilled out and threw it in the garbage, cutting my thumb in the process.

stupid junk.

I was about to punch the wall to vent my anger when a cool hand stopped me.

"It's okay, I'll help you" Cassandra said, putting a Band-Aid on my finger then bending down and picking up an armful of plaster.

"Thanks" I said awkwardly.

We were finished in a half hour, thank goodness she helped me, otherwise I would have been up half the night.

"Thanks" I said, offering my hand for her to shake.

"I guess I really didn't introduce myself, my name's Jared" she smiled.

"Cassie" we shook hands.

_"_want to know where this leads?" I gestured to what we had now identified as a dumbwaiter.

"Yeah" she replied, climbing in.

I squished in next to her, realizing that we were in closer proximity then I anticipated.

She pulled on the rope, and we slowly started to go up.

I had thought that you had to keep pulling for it to work properly, but I guess this dumbwaiter was special.

I noticed in the dark that she was blushing, and I realized I was too.

Maybe it wasn't good for us to be so close together…

after a couple minutes, the dumbwaiter stopped.

We couldn't be there yet, we were stuck.

"Give it a few seconds,maybe it'll unstick" I said. She nodded.

"I'm sorry I called your book dumb" I whispered, trying to make friendly conversation.

"And I'm sorry for what I said, I guess I just wasn't ready for a new sibling" she nodded, and at first I thought that I had mad her cry again, but then she looked up, and I realized I was forgiven.

Just then, the dumbwaiter jarred to life, bring us another few feet, then reaching the end of its line.

I opened the door and stepped out, offering Cassie my hand.

She took it, sending shivers up my spine.

We were in a study of some kind; it was old and dark, but filled with dusty books and papers.

We walked around, looking at some of the art on the walls. There was a giant painting over one of the desks.

"Arthur Spiderwick" I said.

"My great grand uncle" Cassie nodded, then she gasped.

"J-Jared, can you come here?" I walked over to her and gently touched her back.

She pointed to a spot on one of the desks where the dust was inches thick. In it was written.

'_Nosy children, both of Grace, begone, you must leave this place'._

"Creepy" I said. Then an old chest caught my eye. Walked over to it, and took out the key ring I had found in the nest.

One of the keys had a giant 'S'on it, matching the one on the chest.

I opened it, and then took a wrapped package out, in it was a book.

On the front was a letter saying

'_do not dare to read this book, for if you take one fateful look, your life, and the ones around you, will be forfeit.' _

You's think I would've got the hint.

I broke the seal.

You'd think I was smarter.

A shockwave was sent out from it, driving the breath from me.

Instantly, the scratching noise became loud and things started falling off the desks.

I grabbed Cassie's hand a pulled her into the dumbwaiter, once we were out we ran to my room, opening the book once we were sitting on my bed.

"what was that all about?" she asked.

"I dunno" I began to feel very warm.

We were together, on my bed.

No, I couldn't let my thought's go there.

Then, the scratching came again.

I pulled Cassie into the huge trunk at the end of my bed.

The animal scratched at the top of the trunk, then went away.

"This is cozy" I said, bringing out the flashlight.

I still couldn't quite believe that this trunk could fit the both of us.

"It's a trunk" she said bluntly, making me smile.

I was about to open the book when somethingcame to me.

"How old are you" I asked. Cassie looked at me skeptically.

"I'll be thirteen on Saturday" I was older, by only three months.

"Yourself?"

"I turned thirteen in may" she nodded. Now I opened the book.

"There isn't enough room for you to see too" the trunk was large, but not large enough. Her face fell.

"You could read it to me" she suggested.

"Or you could sit in my lap, and I could read over your shoulder" she turned bright red, I think I did too.

"o-ok" she said. I couldn't believe she'd actually do it. heck, I still wasn't believing I even asked.

She settled herself between my legs and leaned back against my chest, then I put my arms around her shoulders; we stayed like that for several hours, until a scream ripped through the night.

Cass and I sprang out of the chest, I was careful to close the lid behind me so the book was safe.

We ran to Mallory's room, and were met with an awful sight.

Her hair was tied in knots to her bedpost, and her arms were covered in bruises and cuts.

"Jared Christopher Grace" mom said over mallory's screaming.

"Why did you do this?" oh great, now I was being blamed.

"I didn't do it" Mallory gave me a death glare.

"I know you did it twerp" mom sighed and turned back to Mallory.

"I'm going to have to cut it" Mallory nodded, tears streaming down her face.

When she was free, she turned on me, scratching and tearing at my face.

"Why the hell did you do that!?" mom pulled Mal off me, then simply said. \

"Jared, go to your room and stay there, I will deal with you in the morning"

"I didn't do it! I've been in a trunk for the past few hours, reading!" I protested.

Mallory laughed.

"As if I'm going to believe you"

"it's true" Cassie interceded.

"I was with him" everyone looked at us like we were nuts.

"Why were you two in a trunk together?" Mallory asked.

"Never mind, I probably don't want to know" mom shook her head.

"it's nice of you to stick up for him, but he really does need to be punished, Mallory told me that she set up punishments for stealing, but this is too far Jared"

I was really angry now, but before I could say anything, mom cut me off.

"I think we should all go to bed, straight to bed, and not in any trunks, it's late"

and with that, we all went our separate ways.

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, then was awoke not too long later by another scream.

I joined my brother and mallory, running to Cassie's room, and seeing her in the same condition, but her hair was twisted to hard it was almost being ripped out of he scalp.

"Jared" Mallory said.

"I didn't do it! why do you always think it was me?"

"because it's always you" Mallory replied.

Mom pushed past us.

"Cassie, calm down" Cass was still sobbing, her head must hurt a lot.

Mom gasped. "your hair is so thickly knotted I have to cut it pretty short"

"just do it" Cassie choked out between sobs. it

would take mom quite a while to cut through the thick dreadlocked ropes that used to be beautiful brown curls.

"Everyone go back to bed" mom said.

We obeyed without a word.

I didn't fall asleep for a long time, kept awake by Cassie's sobs.

It hadn't been much to Mallory, she was planning on cutting i her hair anyway, but Cassandra's long, straight hair that curled at the end, was a different matter entirely, it wasn't cassie's fault, i was the one who opened that book. which, was a field guide to the fantastic world around you.

I bet cassie wasn't thinking she would get bullied, cursed, fed old spaghetti, and her hair dreadlocked in the night.

I'm sure she was really loving being adopted by us now.

* * *

So what do you think? it took me 3 tries to get it edited on the website!!!!

please review, I love hearing your comments, good or bad.

also, check out some of my other work, much appreciated.

I don't own Band-Aids or Spiderwick Chronicles.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning was miserable, breakfast awkward.

We all were beyond the point of even thinking about speaking to each other, just staring into our food and eating slowly.

"Well" Mom broke the silence.

"I'm going to work"

No one moved.

Mom rolled her eyes and went to the door, grabbing her keys and purse.

"Don't do anything while i'm gone" She said sarcastically. Then she was gone, closing the rickety door with a snap.

We sat in silence for a while longer, and I chanced a look at Cassie.

Her aquamarine eyes were bloodshot, dark circles underneath.

Then blue met brown, and I had took look away suddenly.

Mallory groaned and stood up, swishing her short hair over her shoulder.

"I'm going to go do Homework"

Jared followed her, leaving Cassie and I alone.

I chanced another look.

She was stirring her cold oatmeal around with her spoon, staring blankly.

"I'm sorry" I said.

She looked up.

"I don't blame you"

I was relieved, usually people just blamed me for stuff.

"So..." I started, trailing off into awkward silence.

"I'm going upstairs" She said, dumping her oatmeal in the compost and heading for the stairs.

That left me sitting at the table, with nothing to do.

I put my empty bowl in the sink, then went over to the dumbwaiter, pulling on the ropes quickly.

I stepped out into Arthur Spiderwick's study room, and began studying the many possessions closer.

I sat at the ancient desk, and pulled a tattered and dusty sketchbook out of the pile.

I opened it, careful not to rip the pages, and saw that it was a book of watercolor paintings.

There were all sorts of creatures drawn in it; birds, insects, fish, even humans.

Without realizing it, I started to fall asleep over the book, my eyelids beginning to drift closed.

I was awoken by a sharp jab to my back, causing me to jolt awake and fall backwards, taking the chair with me.

I looked around wildly.

What had happened?

Then, I saw sitting right in front of me...

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I know it's short, but I really wanted to do a cliffie!

Please Review!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Jared stared at the small creature that was standing on the edge of the table where his head had been only a moment before.

"W-who are you?" The little thing did some sort of weird dance, then bowed.

"Thimbletack, knick knack, sharp whack" So that had been what had hit him. Timbletack stood only about four or five inches tall, completely clothed aside from shoes. The only thing that kept him from looking like a mini human was his white wispy hair, flattened nose, and completely black eyes.

"What are you?"

"Brownie of this house, quiet as a mouse"

That also explained the skittering, the pranks, and the nest. Oh no...The nest. As far as he knew it was in the trash.

"Your nest...that was what we destroyed in the kitchen"

The little creature started shaking, froth beginning to fly out of his mouth as he transformed into an ugly goblin-like thing. Jared vaguely remembered reading abotu these house sprites.

"Whoa" Jared said, scuttling backwards until he hit the wall. Thimbletack leapt off the table and stalked after him, still foaming at the mouth.

"You ungrateful, savage, pestilential!-"

Jared looked around for something the raging Brownie, the first thing his eyes lit on was a bottle of honey that was wedged behind one of the bookshelves.

He reached over and plucked the honey from it's spot and uncapped it, remembering that he read somewhere that if a Brownie was enraged, then all you had to do was distract it with honey.

"-disgraceful, uncouth, destructive, moronic!-mrbrrfphhhh!" Jared shoved the bottle in Thimbletack's mouth, and soon he was back to his normal shape.

Thimbletack tossed aside the now empty honey bottle and wiped his mouth with a loud belch.

"A bad attempt of a bribe, but nonetheless, a good vibe" Thimbletack started to dance away.

"W-wait" Jared said, standing up. "Why did you come here?"

"Many reasons, many seasons"

Jared's head was beginnning to hurt from all the cryptic rhymes. "Can you stop rhyming for just a little while?" He asked.

"Rhymes and mimes, that's the times"

Okay, now it was getting on his nerves.

"What do you want?"

Thimbletack pointed to the library's only window. "To the glass, quick and fast" I walked over, inwardly rolling my eyes at the ridiculous little creature.

I stood at the window, all I could see was the little mushroom circle around the house, Cassie and Mallory fencing, and Simon wandering off down the woodland trail. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I looked at Thimbletack. He held up a round object and chucked it at me. I turned it over in my hands. It was a small rock with a hole punched in it.

"WHat do I do wth this?" I asked the little Brownie beside me.

"Look, look, see what they took!" I rolled my eyes not-so-inwardly and looked through the little stone.

What I saw then made my stomach drop.

* * *

I know it's short, but i wanted to leave a cliffie! Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Jared raced downstairs, searching for a makeshift weapon on his way. When nothing made itself apparent, he grabbed a steak knife from the kitchen and ran outside to see everyone gone.

"Mal, Cass, Simon?" He asked, looking around, knife raised.

"Yo" Mallory replied, coming out the door behind him. Jared jumped with a little yell.

"What are you doing?" She asked, looking at the steak knife poised in his shaking hand.

"Where's Simon and Cass?" Jared yelled, surprised at the sudden volume of his voice.

"Take it down creepo, Cass and Simon went exploring"

Oh no. Jared's heart started pumping faster. He knew in his gut that Cass and Simon had been taken by the goblins he had seen, no one was safe if they stepped outside of the ring of mushrooms.

"I have to go find them, Stay inside!" Jared yelled, leaping off the porch and heading for the trail behind the woodshed before Mal could reply. Teh trail had to lead somewhere...

After walking for about 10 minutes, Jared stopped. Up ahead the trail curved, and something was coming towards him, moving fast.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Jared raised his knife. Twigs were snapping briskly as whatever it was moved towards him. Silently, he moved so that he would be able to surprise his attacker. It was almost there...

"JARED!"

Cassandra burst around the corner, just narrowly missing crashing into his waiting knife.

"Cass?" Jared dropped his knife and hugged her hard as she flung herself into his arms.

"Oh my god Jared, these...these things were carrying us a-away, and we c-couldn't see them and they scratched us!" She sobbed into his shoulder.

Pulling back, Jared looked Cass over and noticed that she had definitely taken a tumble. Her short hair was tangled and had some leaves stuck in it, her face and clothes were grimy from running through the forest, and red scratches went up the length of her arms, legs and face.

"We need to go back for Simon" Jared said, taking Cassandra's hand. She nodded and wiped her face, smearing the dirt even further.

Except for the occasional stick snapping beneath their feet, the two teens traveled in complete silence thorugh the forest. They had been walking for about forty-five minutes when they reached a large stream.

"This is where I got away. There's something here that made them scared, and they dropped me and ran with Simon" Cass said, her green eyes searching around.

A rumble sounded and the water in the stream began to ripple furiously. Cass moved closer to him, trembling in fear. Jared could feel the blood rushing from his face, and was tempted to just run screaming.

Then, something began to emerge slowly from the murky water. At first, it was like a small hill was pushing itself from the stream's bottom, but as more of it erupted to the surface, a ghastly face began to take shape.

If possible, Jared paled even more. Right in front of him stood a fully fledged river troll measuring over ten feet high.

"What is it?" Cass squeaked as she clung to his arm, eyes wide. Jared had to remind himself that she couldn't see what he could, and silently thanked whomever was in charge of these things.

"It's a troll, RUN!" Jared yelled, grabbing Cass' hand and yanking her away from the Troll's reaching claws.

"Cooome baaack. I haaave something for youuu" Jared paused. The Troll extended a closed hand as if it did indeed have something for them.

"Jared..." Cass pleaded.

"Hang on" Slowly he walked towards the monstrous troll.

"What do you have to give me?" He asked, tentatively creeping closer. The troll grinned, and his foul breath washed over Jared, reeking of pond scum and something...dead.

"Iiiiiiii hasssss a booook" the troll held out it's hand, and opened it slowly. Inside was the exact copy of the field guide. Jared's blood ran cold. This was a trap, and he had walked into it.

"No" He said, and propelled himself backwards. The troll turned angry, reaching out and clawing for him. He slipped, and the troll's hand was inches from grabbing him and taking him down to the depths forever...

Then, a small fleck of sunlight fell on the troll's arm, and it screamed, recoiling like it had been burned. Jared took this opportunity to turn and run, grabbing Cass' hand on the way.

"Coooooomeeeeee Baaaaaaaack!" The troll screamed after them. Jared ran until he felt his lungs were about to burst, and then he stopped, pulling a gasping Cassandra behind a tree with him.

"What was that all about?" Cass yelled as soon as she caught her breath. Jared shook his head and leaned back against the tree's rough bark, shutting his eyes.

"Jared!" Cassandra smacked his chest.

"OW! What?" He yelled back, sitting up and fixing her with an intense stare.

"We have to save Simon before the sun sets or he'll be Goblin chow!" With that, Cass yanked him up and pointed to a spot in the sky.

"Look, that's smoke from a campfire, want to bet that it's the Goblins getting ready to roast your brother?"

"Ours"

"What?" Cass turned to Jared, confused.

"It's our brother, you're our sister now" Jared replied. Cassandra just stared at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Come on then, we have to go save OUR brother" Cass grabbed Jared's hand and led him off towards the source of the fire.

Jared steeled himself for what he knew had to be an ugly fight up ahead.

Little did he know that it was only the first wave of the hurricane about to unfold.


End file.
